Mayor Bronson asks Anchorage Assembly to bring back suspension of city’s plastic bag ban

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson wants to again suspend the city’s ban on plastic bags.

The Anchorage Assembly suspended the city’s ban on plastic bags at the beginning of the pandemic, but on Wednesday, that suspension officially ended.

Bronson on Thursday gave an ordinance to the Assembly for consideration at its Sept. 14 meeting that would suspend the plastic bag ban until May 1, 2022, according to an emailed statement from the mayor’s office.

Bronson in the statement said he has heard from residents, businesses and others who support the suspension.

“With supply chain shortages and delays, the rise (in) COVID-19 case counts, and the massive expansion in curbside pick-up and delivery that has limited the use of personal and reusable bags, this policy should be extended until we can get our hands around a variety of outstanding issues,” Bronson said in the statement. “This suspension would also allow retailers to use their existing stock of plastic bags, provide time for businesses to restock their supplies of reusable or paper bags, and continue to limit contact between employees and customers for those wishing to do so.”

Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance said the mayor’s announcement about the proposed ordinance was unexpected.

“I wish the mayor would focus on the real crisis facing Anchorage right now, and that’s the explosion of COVID cases, which is stressing our hospitals, our small businesses, our schools and our residents,” LaFrance said. “The Assembly has asked the mayor to take action. Extending a ban on plastic bags isn’t the focus I would have expected.”

The first suspension happened early in the pandemic, when paper bags were in short supply and people feared that the coronavirus could spread via surfaces such as reusable shopping bags.

The Assembly this spring decided to end the suspension because paper bags are now more available and there is less fear about surface transmission of the virus.